A Pause in the Dance
by sxekat7188
Summary: Serenity based As River fights the Reavers beyond the closed doors, Jayne begins to worry and fidget.


A/N: So, I wrote this during an 8 and half hour-long shift I had at work. Kudos to _elaine451_ for writing _Safer_, which actually gave me the idea for this.

Disclaimer: _beep!_ _Wei_, you've reached sxekat7188, owner of _Firefly_ and _Serenity _and therefore owner of Mal, Jayne, Wash, River, Zoë, Kaylee, Inara, Book, Simon, Badger, Atherton, YoSaffBridge, the Operative, Mr. Universe, Mr. Universe's "wife" and all those other people in that happy, happy place. Just leave a message after the beep and I'll ignore you for as long as humanly possible. _Dong ma_? Laters! _beep!_ Kat, this is Joss Whedon, you'll be hearing from my lawyers soon. beep!

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Jayne Cobb was not a man who feared easily. Sure, there were things he was afraid of; he was just a man after all. He was afraid of Reavers, that was for damn sure, getting fatally shot was another, something happening to his Ma, something happening to Vera, in fact something happening to anyone he cared for and he cared for more people then he claimed. But there was a difference between being afraid and being filled with fear. When he was afraid, Jayne tended to fight harder, move faster, anything to keep himself and who or whatever he was protecting in one piece. Now though…he stared at the thick metal doors and told himself that getting sick was NOT an option. Zoë was hurt, not badly but still hurt, the Doc was hurt, hell even little Kaylee was hurt, and Mal was off trying to spread the word about Miranda. He was in ruttin' charge; he had to be alert and ready to move if those doors opened to admit Reavers or the Alliance. That meant no getting sick, even if his stomach was twisting ferociously at what was probably happening on the other side.

Trying to stay calm, Jayne again took inventory of the others. Inara was going between holding Kaylee's hand and checking on the Doc's stomach wound while Zoë cleaned and reload her weapons, occasionally glancing to the side for the little man who wasn't there and would never be again. He couldn't imagine her pain and though he'd been in the galley, it was clear she had seen her husband's death, something Jayne fervently hoped would never happen to him is he were to ever wed. And not that he'd admit to anyone, well maybe to his baby girl, but he was going to miss the goofy pilot somethin' fierce.

The sound of heavy fighting outside got louder, making Jayne twitch. If she went and got herself killed he'd hunt down every gorram Reaver in the 'verse and kill them, then go after every man and woman on every Alliance ship and kill THEM for letting the Reavers get through their ships. If she didn't get herself killed, which was a possibility, he'd been on the receiving end of some of those hits, if she wasn't dead he'd have a thing or two to say to her. Mostly something along the lines of the next time she decided to take on a suicide mission, she'd better have the decency to at least look at him before she ran off to it. River would probably roll her eyes and respond that there wouldn't be a next time since he was likely to kill the entire enemy before she could even throw a punch. His baby girl was such a smart alleck sometimes. Luckily, that's what he loved about her.

Jayne sat up as the elevator behind them whirled to life. Even though he was fairly sure it was Mal, his gut reaction was to swing Vera around to stare down the door. There was a collective sigh or relief from the group though as their thoroughly beaten up Captain stepped off.

"It's done," he coughed, looking around at each of them. Jayne was pretty sure only he and Inara herself caught the immense relief in the Captain's eyes as he caught sight of her unharmed. Those same eyes darkened again when they say how stiff Kaylee was moving and the needle right next to her. "Report. River?"

Zoë had barely even opened her mouth to do so when the grating sound of the bulkhead doors opening swung all their heads back around.

Jayne's relief at seeing River still standing in the mist of all those dead bodies was like nothing he'd ever felt. It was also short lived as the wall behind her collapsed to admit dozens of Alliance soldiers.

"Gorram it," he muttered, slowly getting to his feet.

He ignored the soldiers demanding orders from the Operative, putting all his focus into getting River to loosen her hold on her knives and look at him rather then the guns pointed at her from all sides.

"Stand down," came the horse order. "Stand down. It's finished."

The moment the guns were no longer aimed at her, River dropped her weapons and began to run. Anticipating her next move Jayne swung Vera around to hang off his back so he could catch the petite dancer.

"That was so stupid, you _feng le_ girl," he groused as she latched her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. "You do something that stupid again, I'll lock you in our bunk for an entire year."

River didn't answer, just pulled him into a long kiss. He could hear the other commenting but he couldn't quite make out what they were saying. He didn't quite care either, it was 'bout time they knew about him and River, especially after her _bao_ of a brother had nearly carted her off on Beaumonde. When the two finally parted Jayne rested his forehead against River's and closed his eyes.

"Gorram it, baby girl, I mean it," he whispered. "That's twice now I nearly lost you."

"Simon can't make me leave now," the girl assured him, moving her head to nuzzle his neck. "Knows now that the girl leaving means pain." She giggled. "Plus he promised Kaylee sex."

"Did he now?" the mercenary chuckled. "That's the best news I've heard in a good long while. Now I can stop all those lame ass plans of hunting you down if you leave."

"I'm not going anywhere, Jayne."

"Don't even bother trying, baby girl. I'll just follow you."

As River grinned and burrowed deeper into his arms, Mal cleared his throat,

"Well, I think it's 'bout time we got back to _Serenity_." He pointed at Jayne. "We'll talk about this after we get cleaned up at home."

"Home," River sighed. "Home sounds good."

"Agreed," Simon gasped, leaning slightly on Kaylee, one hand holding the compress to his stomach. "Let's go home."

"Poor _Serenity_ is gonna need an awful lot of work," Kaylee grimaced, working to keep herself and Simon up right as they began to walk.

The crowd of soldiers parted before the crew.

"Don't she always though?" Zoë inquired, one hand to her back.

"That's what makes her _Serenity_," Inara replied.

"No." Mal shook his head. "That's what makes her home. She's just like us, always there, always needs work but is part of the family."

As _Serenity_'s crew hobbled back to their ship, news of their deeds spread throughout the soldiers of the Alliance as news of Miranda rocked the planets. If they Unification War had still been going on, the Browncoats wouldn't have had to worry about superior numbers for quite a while. For now though, there were seven people in need of baths, rest, and food. And that was enough for them.

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Review please...cause I can kill you with my brain, leaving you cursing my sudden but inevitable betrayal.


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